FFIINNDDIINNGG AA NNEEWW WWAAYY:: CCAAMMPPUUSS TTRRAANNSSPPOORRTTAATTIIOONN FFOORR TTHHEE 2211SSTT CCEENNTTUURRYY FORWARD “Unless we change the direction we are going, we may end up where we are headed.” - Chinese Proverb During the last decade, the University of Colorado community has been grappling with how to provide access to the campus without destroying the quality of the campus as an educational community. It has been a difficult and fasci- nating process, which has led to some fundamental changes in the way we approach transportation. We no longer automatically assume that the only solution to demand is building new parking structures. The same process is occurring at many universities and colleges around the country. Multiple factors -- lack of land for new parking lots, the high costs of building parking structures, pressure from surrounding communities, activist efforts by student environmentalists - are leading schools towards a new vision based upon expanded transit access, better bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and higher charges for parking. All of this does not come easily. Some of the ideas are unfamiliar to many transportation planners. Governing boards and senior administrators often came of age in an era when the automobile was king, and are reluctant to embrace change. Students tend to be far more willing to try out new ways. The ensuing debate reflects that of society at large. Just as the U.S. Congress has slowly come to understand the need for multimodal transportation solutions, many schools are slowly coming to the same conclusions, in stumbles and lurches. What schools do is important to society at large. In many communities, the university is the largest employer, with big impacts on surrounding neighborhoods. Perhaps more important, the long term transportation behaviors of the millions of students enrolled at institutions of higher education will be affected by the transportation habits they develop while in school. Innovative transportation approaches can diffuse from higher education to other parts of society. In many ways, transportation policy at institutions of higher education is analogous to solid waste policy 10 years ago. At that time a combination of factors led to the creation of hundreds of campus recycling programs: many schools faced rising landfill disposal charges, giving a financial incentive to find alternatives; student environmental groups across the country supported the expansion of campus recycling and an organized effort encouraged schools to reform their solid waste management and provided case studies and technical support. The one piece missing on the trans- portation front is the organizational support, providing information and technical support for improving campus trans- portation planning. Our hope with this book is to help fill this gap. We invite you to take a tour across the country! The success stories are intriguing. The University of Washington in Seattle has been able to expand the campus population, reduce the amount of parking provided, and still meet trans- portation demand. In a very different small town environment, Cornell University has accommodated its access needs through an innovative transit system and parking management - without having to build any new parking. Students at the University of Colorado have worked with the city of Boulder and the Regional Transportation District to provide transit passes and high frequency service, leading to a 500 percent increase in transit use. The University of California in Davis has shown what happens when a campus really takes bicycles seriously. The University of Iowa has made a commitment to keep their campus green spaces, and to keep the area open and inviting to pedestrians. Not all of these approaches will work at every campus, of course, but many of them do have wide application. If your school is located in an area which has transit service, think about developing a transit pass program for students and employees. Do many students live within a mile or two of campus? If so, you have the potential for high bicycle use if you provide the paths and bike racks. Wherever you are, think about how you charge for parking, and whether this is sending the right incentives. If you are hiring a consultant to help you figure out what to do, make sure to choose a firm that has experience with transportation demand management, not just traffic engineering. Make use of the resources and contacts at the end of this book. Good luck on your journey! Will Toor Director of the University of Colorado at Boulder Environmental Center FFIINNDDIINNGG AA NNEEWW WWAAYY:: CCAAMMPPUUSS TTRRAANNSSPPOORRTTAATTIIOONN FFOORR TTHHEE TTWWEENNTTYY--FFIIRRSSTT CCEENNTTUURRYY BY FRANÇOIISE POIINSATTTTE AND WIILLLL TOOR APRIILL 1999 FUNDED BY TTHE UNIIVERSIITTY OF COLLORADO ENVIIRONMENTTALL CENTTER AND TTHE COLLORADO OFFIICE OF ENERGY CONSERVATTIION TTAABBLLEE OOFF CCOONNTTEENNTTSS Credits 2 Acknowledgements 3 1. Introduction 4 2. Parking: The growing dilemma 7 Figuring out how much parking really costs 8 Overflow parking in neighborhoods 10 Freshman parking bans 12 3. Students: What does it cost to own a car? 13 4. Transportation demand management strategies 14 Transit pass programs 14 University of Colorado employee bus-pass program 16 Tips for creating a successful transit-pass program 19 University of Wisconsin: midwestern TDM success story 20 The bicycle: vehicle for a healthy campus 21 University of California at Davis: cruisin’ in the country’s bicycle capital 23 University of Oregon: two-wheel travel in Eugene 26 Creating a pedestrian friendly campus 28 University of Iowa: designing a walkable campus 30 University of California at Berkeley: safety counts for pedestrians 32 Carpools: low cost and efficient transportation options 33 Vanpools: cooperation at work 34 Parking management: the essential TDM link 36 Cornell University: achieving reductions in faculty trips 38 Campus shuttles 41 Creating more options: telecommuting and flextime 42 University of Washington and the U-PASS 44 Auraria Higher Education Center: an urban commuter campus 49 University of Utah: trip reduction in a western commuter campus 53 5. Joint planning: working together to shape a better future 55 Mesa State College: students and the community working towards transit 56 CU Boulder student-pass program: joint planning at work 59 The Ski Bus: expanding student recreational options 61 CSU and Fort Collins: working together to get transit up and running 62 6. Nonprofit organizations and transportation management associations 65 7. State legislation: How does it affect transit planning at universities? 67 8. Checklist criteria for a successful TDM program 69 9. Conclusion 71 10. Contacts and resources 74 2 FINDINGINDING A NEW WAY UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER CCRREEDDIITTSS Françoise Poinsatte is the principal author of the Finding a New Way resource guide. She has been involved in transportation planning in the Denver-Boulder Metro region as transportation chair of the Boulder Sierra Club, a member of Boulder’s Transportation Advisory Board and the Boulder Valley Regional Transportation Task Force. Françoise also served on committees to help shape the city of Boulder’s Transportation Master Plan. Françoise is working with the University of Colorado Environmental Center on the Campus Transportation Network project. She has recently created the Finding a New Way slide show presenta- tion which highlights the major themes of this guide. Françoise is also an educator. She received her bachelors in Fine Arts from the University of Notre Dame and her professional teaching license from the University of Colorado. Will Toor is the director of the University of Colorado Environmental Center, which administers the University of Colorado student bus pass program and the University of Colorado recycling pro- gram. He conceived of the Finding a New Way resource guide in 1997, and obtained funding from the Governor’s Office of Energy Conservation to publish this guide, the Finding a New Way slide show, and hold a Finding A New Way conference. He is also Mayor of the City of Boulder. He works on transportation issues as a member of the transportation policy committee of the Denver Regional Council of Governments and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus. Will has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago. Robert Schubert designed the guide. A freelance journalist, he has worked on sustainable agri- culture and human rights issues in Latin America. Photography by GO Boulder, Françoise Poinsatte, Colorado State University Photographic Services, University of California at Davis Transportation and Parking Services and Cornell University Transportation Services. FINDINGINDING A NEW WAY UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER 3 AACCKKNNOOWWLLEEDDGGEEMMEENNTTSS We wish to thank the following people for their time and efforts in assisting us with this docu- ment. They include Edward Beimborn, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Jim Brock, Mesa State College; John Crawford, University of Utah; John Cross, Mesa State College; Cliff Davidson, Mesa County Planning Department; Peter Dewey, University of Washington; Mark Gallagher, Auraria Higher Education Center; Spense Havlick, University of Colorado; Donn Hopkins, Colorado State University; David Lieb, Cornell University; Mary Lock, Mesa County Civic Forum; Penny Puskarich, City of Boulder Transportation; Joe Roy, University of Colorado; Denise Sulski, Colorado Clean Air Campaign; Veronica Summers, Charlier Associates